GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AP) – Ryan Donato scored two goals, Troy Terry had three assists and the United States beat Slovakia 5-1 in the qualification round Tuesday to advance to face the Czech Republic in the Olympic quarterfinals.
College kids again led the way for the U.S., which scored more against Slovakia than it did in all three preliminary-round games. James Wisniewski, Mark Arcobello and Garrett Roe also scored for the Americans, who took advantage of a 5-on-3 power play for hits on Donato and goaltender Ryan Zapolski.
“We’ve had a lot of chances that we didn’t score on,” Donato said. “Just having the chemistry build and continue to build, it feels really good.”
Shaking off a collision with Ladislav Nagy, Ryan Zapolski had arguably his best game of the tournament, stopping 21 of the 22 shots he faced. Zapolski and the U.S. also beat Slovakia 2-1 in the preliminary round when Donato scored twice. With his second two-goal game, Donato equaled his father, Ted, who scored four goals for the U.S. at the 1992 Games in Albertville.
Between periods, Donato saw video of his dad in the stands and said, “I’ve never seen him smile like that before.”